


The One Where Everything Bad Happens to Alfred

by Robinsreese



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Alfred Pennyworth is the Best, Character Turned Into a Ghost, Coma, Good Grandparent Alfred Pennyworth, Good Sibling Cassandra Cain, Jason Todd Sees Dead People, Jason Todd-centric, Kinda, Temporary Character Death, Time Loop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:55:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27862649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Robinsreese/pseuds/Robinsreese
Summary: Jason isn't a lot of things. He's not a Wayne anymore, he is not a Bat anymore he's not even a superhero technically, anymore.He might not be these things but one thing for sure he'll always be is...Alfreds grandson.
Relationships: Alfred Pennyworth & Jason Todd, Cassandra Cain & Jason Todd, Cassandra Cain & Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Jason Todd & Damian Wayne
Comments: 8
Kudos: 105





	1. The Time-Loop

**Author's Note:**

> Jason at 15 was killed by Joker  
> At 16 he was ressurected  
> At 17 Bruce sliced his neck with a batarang  
> At 18 he already created the Outlaws  
> At 19 Bruce beat him to near death over Penguin  
> Now 22 working with his brothers and sister only

* * *

Alfred is gone. Jason got a call in the middle of the night from his older brother Dick urging him to hurry to the manor without giving him a good reason. He only complied because the two of them had been recently on the mend with Jason taking an active role in his siblings lives. He still avoids the manor or anywhere Batman would most likely be.

When he arrived, he figured Dick meant the Cave since he still didn’t have access to the Manor. Bruce didn’t want a murderer to enter his home, apparently. Jason didn’t really care what with the case of his Robin costume he died in, immortalized in the Cave and his room belonging to some fifteen year old kid who died years ago. Arriving, he noticed all the others associated with the Bats were also there, every former Robin and Batgirl, with Batwoman and even the Commissioner standing in a circle by the looks of it, surrounding someone on a hospital bed. Which wasn’t unusual in their line of work but all of them together like this was never really good news. Bats was next to the Commissioner, so that ruled them both out, he could also see both of his little brothers from where he stood, tucked into Dicks arms similarly to how Selina was holding Barbara and Cassandra.

He couldn't really see anyone else, so Jason got off his bike and moved closer, deliberately keeping his helmet on, he looked around hoping that whoever it was he didn't really know that well. Maybe it was one of those new kids he hadn’t met, yet. Whatever it was he hoped the Joker had died from it, something he wished for every time he knew someone would give him devastating news, or at least devastating to the Bats. He searches for Alfred, usually the first person he greets whenever he comes to the cave, Alfred always seems to know when he's here and never forgets to stop by with some cookies and tea for a quick chat.

He was always concerned that Jason might have picked up the same habits that the others seemed to share, not being able to take care of themselves.

He hasn't, Alfred made sure growing up that he would know exactly how to take care of himself and he's stood by those teachings since. Making sure to eat healthy and sleep enough, to lessen the load of Alfreds worrying.

"Hey, Dickface! Where's Alfie? I found a cool macaron recipe I wanted to show him,” Jason's voice distorted but distinctly positive and eager to see the older man. Jason noticed right away his older brother was crying when he looked up. Eyes both puffy, swollen and face red. Tims shoulders were shaking underneath Dicks arm, the third Robin tucked tightly to Dicks neck. The others had avoided eye contact with Jason, with Bruce attempting to step closer to Jason. Which was concerning and alarming, he wasn’t expecting to get arrested today.

He backed away from him, a reflex at this point.

"Little Wing, " Dick croaked out, gently steering Tim to Cassandra's open arms and Damian to Barbara’s, stepping around them and bypassing Bruce to get closer to Jason. He noticed the sheet covering someone's body, which normally wouldn’t have worried him if the black pointed dress shoe with a classic buckle wasn't sticking out.

"Dick…?" He was raised by a self proclaimed detective. The clues were easy to figure out but maybe he's wrong.

Everyone is wrong at least once right? Maybe this is his. Please let this be his.

"Little wing I'm sorry…"

"You're sorry? What are you talking about? "

Dick shook his head, hand over his mouth trying to stop his sobs from leaking through. Cassandra came over to them while the others had moved further away, as if they were trying to avoid whatever reaction Jason was about to have. He was still an uncontrollable monster to some of them and those few would never stand close to him. He didn’t mind so much, it wasn’t as if he was the one recruiting child soldiers to fulfill his own idiotic agenda. Cassandra wrapped an arm around Dicks waist, head leaning on his shoulder comforting him. She was the one the others must have sent in, being the strongest and all. In case he needed to be put down like some sort of animal.

She looked right at him somehow, even through his helmet he felt like they were making clear eye contact, "Alfred gone."

"Well, where'd he go?" Jason drawled.

Dick made a laughing choked out noise behind his hand, tears rolling down his cheeks again. He started shaking his head back and forth, 'no'. 

"Alfred gone'’ Cassandra repeated shaking her head sadly, she had been crying too it seemed her eyes red though now dried.

Jason removed his gaze from his older siblings to look back at the bed, stepping closer Jason didn't realize one of his hands were already reaching out "How?" He whispered out, hoping that it was peaceful, that this kind of life didn’t take away someone so important to all of them, that it was of old age and not that they couldn’t protect him. He deserved that at least.

Dick answered this time, seemingly having calmed down enough to be able to say something,"We're not sure. He went out earlier, I don’t know when and when he came back he was already bleeding and collapsed on the ground, no one was here until Damian came home from staying over at the Kents.'' Dick sobbed.

Anger filled Jason, Alfred was here all alone for who knows how long because all these stupid-useless fuckers couldn’t be bothered to come home once in a while. He would feel guilty if he didn’t make sure to see Alfred once a week at least, while still managing to avoid Bruce-fucking-Wayne.

"I gotta go," Jason barely got out, if he didn’t leave now there wouldn't be anyone in this room left, Jason was sure he would beat all of them into the ground.

"Little Wing, please," It was rare for Dick to beg, he usually just had to ask and everyone would try and do whatever it was he wanted. He was truly more manipulative than Bruce in that aspect since most people didn’t even realize what Dick was doing. Bruce was more the kind to threaten to take away everything or send you back where he found you if you didn’t do as he said exactly as he said. He wouldn’t be surprised if Bruce conveniently left kids he didn’t like into life threatening situations to fend for themselves, and leave them to die. Guilt off his shoulders that way.

"I gotta go," He repeated, he needed to get out of there Alfred was gone and Jason didn’t know what to do with himself right now, he just knew that he had a bar’s worth of alcohol at one of his safe houses and it was time for him to drown in it.

''Jason.'' It was Bruce this time, Jason ignored him and moved to his bike, leaving the other Bats behind thoughts running filled with his lovable old man.

* * *

_ "As you can see Master Jason, between adding baking soda or baking powder causes the final product to bake in such differences.'' Alfred had a baking sheet in his hand pointing at each cookie with each ingredient used, patiently. Jason had been curious, the two were alone in the Manor not uncommon since he first moved in all those months ago and had wondered about Alfred's infamous cookies. He read somewhere that cookies had one or the other but he found out Alfred put both and couldn’t help but ask if they were the same thing. _

_ Instead of answering, Alfred had decided to demonstrate letting little Jason help him make both batches of cookies. _

_ "See now, my boy, some are flatter and thin and the others are thick and cake like, even though we used the same exact recipe," Jason nodded along, mouth watering for a taste but he was too shy to ask for any. Alfred was the only friend he's ever had even though the two were on opposite sides of the age scale, back when he was homeless no one bothered to talk to him and even before that no one really wanted to associate with a Crime Alley kid. He doesn’t know why Alfred cares, ever since he got settled the older man made a point to always have a conversation with him, whether it was about antique books from the library Jason had read, mythology he caught up on, recipes Jason found in some of Alfred’s recipe books or just what Jason was learning at school that day. _

_ He seemed to always have time for Jason and in turn Jason always made sure to be of some help to the older man doing things he thought might’ve been too difficult for Alfred to do on his own. Unlike Bruce who was either constantly working at Wayne Enterprises, worried about his cases as Batman or how his previous Robin was doing and even when he did have free time it was taken up by the Justice League or Catwoman or even just catching up on sleep. _

_ But that’s alright he has Alfred. _

_ ''Why don’t you try some, to taste the difference, of course." Alfred winked. _

_ "Thank you, Alfie" It was new the nickname he'd only recently started calling Alfred, that he was the first to do so if the shocked look he got from both Bruce and Dickface in the middle of their argument was anything to go by, Dick had tried to address it without saying the nickname out loud with Alfred only smiling lightly not commenting on it, pretending he hadn’t heard Dick ask, changing the subject. Jason had started calling him that only just a few weeks before, he had a list of reasons written down when he brought them to Alfreds attention, who was clearly amused by the whole thing but indulged the eleven year old anyway. Not too long afterwards Bruce and Fick sprinkled in Al when they spoke to the old man. _

_ "You are quite welcome, Master Jason.'' Though Jason was upset he never managed to convince Alfred to call him Jay in return. _

* * *

Jason woke up to what he'd hoped would have been a hangover but wasn't, yesterday was clear in his mind unfortunately, getting up off the bed he apparently managed to get in last night, he realizes he's inside his first safe house where Dick had called him yesterday not the one he remembered sleeping in. Grumbling, he went about his early morning, hoping to spend the day indoors mourning for his dear grandfather without interruptions from any of the others.

Jason didn't bother with showering or eating, opting to just drink Alfreds favourite tea he had stored away for the occasion when the english man visited, in his honour.

Which he won't be able to share with Alfred anymore.

He sank back into his bed, tea on his nightstand pulling the pictures of him and Alfred out where Jason kept safely in his wallet. The first, before his death when he was about fourteen, he finally managed to grow a few inches and didn’t look like a skeleton underneath his clothes, though he was still smaller than that of a certain thirteen year old demon child and his replacement when they were even younger than that. He and Alfred had gone to visit the largest library in Metropolis that day, Bruce had ditched them soon after they arrived claiming an emergency with Wayne Enterprises, so Jason and Alfred spent the day together, the best day of his first life Jason would say.

The second picture was both of them after Jason's death, in a local tea shop in Gotham, it was Alfred's birthday and they had just visited a theatre production of a Shakespearean play. The first birthday he spent with Alfred after coming back and a tradition they continued to do together every year since.

But that’d have to stop.

Looking at the picture softly, running his fingers on Alfred's face Jason kissed each photo vowing to avoid the Manor for a few days, while the others calm down. It wouldn’t do him any good breaking down in front of Batman, even if his siblings were something he really needed in that moment.

Jason picked up Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice from his nightstand, he had one in all of his safe houses, comfortable reading it over and over. He just wanted to distract himself and reading was always something that he could get invested in and obsess over.

It was almost noon when Jason finished and wanted to pick out another book to read. He made sure to pour himself some more tea before coming back, to start reading another book. He went back to reading wondering if the others reached out to Alfred's family in England. He knew there was at least a brother, he wasn't sure but there might have even been two of them. Jason supposes Bruce would deal with it, he never liked confronting his emotions and preferred to work overtime to hide instead, not that the others were much different.

Not that Jason was. They learned from the best.

Sometime in the afternoon Jason needed to stretch his body, having his enormous body attempt to be in the same comforting positions he did when he was a kid, put a lot of stress on his upper back uncurling himself and standing he flipped his now fourth book upside down on his bed to keep his page open. Stretching his arms over his head to pop his back Jason decided he should try to eat something, anything Alfred would never forgive him if he went even a day without food, he should know whenever it happened and Jason had replied with ‘I've had worse’, Alfred would feed him the most caloried food he had in stock to spite the claim.

Cucumber sandwiches were something Alfred used to and probably still had made a lot of, it was one of those snacks Alfred made whenever Alfred had taken him out during the days on the weekend. Jason didn’t have friends and the ones he did end up making as Robin were Dicks friends first, their loyalty unwavering and oftentimes obvious that they would choose Dick over Jason, but Alfred always loved fiercely and his loyalty was to the family which Jason was at one point a part of. He never had favourites from what he remembered even with the newer adoptees. Alfred loved all of them and all of them loved Alfred in return just as much.

Taking the newly made sandwiches, reminiscent of his childhood days going to museums and book stores and grocery shopping, Jason sat back in his bed devouring each one in a single bite. His eyes finally pooling with tears, Jason swallows down his sandwich and his potential breakdown blinking quickly to get rid of his tears without them falling down, he was not ready for that, not yet. Jason went back to his book drowning in other people's problems and feelings.

Evening rolled around quickly, the sky already orange, without Jason realizing he had made a good dent in the bookshelf he had stored away here. Jason took a short nap, his body for some reason exhausted even though he hadn't done anything all day.

It was well past midnight when he awoke from his phone ringing rubbing his eyes. Jason looked at the caller ID, it was Dick again.

Answering the call, Jason assumed he was getting the details for Alfred's funeral arrangement, "What is it, Dickface?" He grogerly croaked out.

"Little Wing, I need you to come home,"

Signing, Jason felt the need to argue that the Manor was not his home anymore, but he was tired and half asleep, not interested in continuing this conversation. "Whatever," He hung up, not waiting for a reply. Jason moved out of his bed getting dressed to meet up with the rest of them.

Reaching the Manor Jason noticed everyone back in the Cave like the day before, huddled around Alfreds body, still. Jason climbs off his bike and heads in their general direction making sure to keep a decent distance from the big Bats.

"Whats up Dickface?" Jason said, making himself known, Dick turned to him, Tim and Damian in his arms, he was still crying, it looked like he hadn’t stopped since yesterday.

"Goldie?"

"Little Wing." He whimpered, crying even harder, he removed his arms from their younger brothers using both his hands to cover the sounds of his sobs coming out his mouth "Al is gone, Jay"

"What the fuck? Is that suppose to be a joke?" Jason angrily said, he knows Alfred is gone, he was still mourning him, Dick did basically the same thing yesterday, why is he making them repeat this?

"Jay, he went out this morning and came back bleeding out, no one realized until Damian came back from Metropolis,'' Barbara interrupted, she was in Selena's arms, just like she had been yesterday.

"What the fuck? This morning?" Alfred died yesterday, didn’t he? What was going on? Jason moved away from all of them checking his phone for the date. The date was the same as yesterdays, Jason's heart was unsteady, walking backwards away from all of them. Did he dream of the exact same thing? Or was it some kind of fluke? He ran back to his bike intent on leaving to clear his head.

''Jay, wait!'' it was Tim.

"I gotta go,"

"Please, Little Wing," Dick cried out.

"I need to clear my head,"

"Jason, stop." Bruce commanded.

He left ignoring their last calls, Jason drove around Gotham trying to piece everything together, he eventually hoping the next day would get him some answers and maybe the possibility of saving Alfred.

* * *

It had been a week after waking up on the now third day and checking his phone Jason noticed peculiarly that it was still the same day. He has done the same thing since that day, go to the Wayne Manor to find Alfred. On both the third and fourth day Jason woke up too late to catch Alfred leaving and couldn’t find where he went off to. So he instead checked on what the others were doing, Damian spent most of the day playing with Kid Superman. Tim was at his own place, high on coffee and constantly working on one thing or another. Cass was with Barbara the whole time spending a girls day together it seemed and Dick was passed out for most of the afternoon after coming back to his apartment from work. 

And on the fifth day he managed to see Alfred leave at six in the morning on the dot, heading to the center of Gotham but Jason lost him after he got into several different cabs. On the sixth day, he managed to keep track of him only to lose him instead while he was walking on the streets to wherever he was going, Jason had no idea what he was up to. By the seventh day Jason had decided to just visit Alfred and see if the old man would let him join him all day, something he did often with Alfred recently just spending the day doing domestic chores together, only for Alfred to ask him politely for some time to himself. That seventh day, the Bats found out Jason spent the day with Alfred and blew up at him blaming him for Alfred's death, pissed off Jason never explained anything to him when he tried to interrogate Jason. And promised himself he would solve this without Bruce’s help.

Today was the eighth time Jason repeated this day.

He had no idea what to do, so he decided to call in reinforcements to assemble at his safe house, the one he kept waking up in each time time was reset, he assembled them in a simple text to their Batbros group chat, which included the unofficial Barbara Gordan.

‘I need some help, come to my safe house in Crime Alley,’

Dick answered first with, ‘on my way’.

Tim sent an ‘ok’.

Cass texted a thumbs up.

Babes explained that she couldn't leave and if he needed to just call her later if she was available. 

And Damien left him on read.

Cass arrived first, seeing Jason pace around what was to be considered the living room in his safe house but was just a singular couch. She came in through the window and about ten minutes later Dick arrived the same way, it was still sunset sometime after seven, he had quite a few hours left before anything happened, the front doorbell rang all three of them stared at it, Jason went to open it seeing a sleep deprived Tim on the other side. In his hand a thermos filled with coffee, he took sips every few seconds staring back at the. Jason led them to his couch starting his pacing up again.

"Okay Little Wing, we're here. What's the matter, why did you call us?'' Dick started off, the three of them waited expectantly for some kind of explanation.

"Yeah, I almost finished the report I was working on, Bruce has been harassing me to get it done for a while now,'' Tim mentioned, vaguely frustrated that he had to write one at all on top of everything else going on in his life, Cassandra just nodded at Jason signalling for him to speak up. Which was what gave him the confidence to do so.

"I know you might not believe me but I'm in a time loop, for the past eight days it's still been today,''

"Jason what?'' Tim asked, confused.

"I know you haven't slept at all and lied to Dick about it when he calls you before leaving for work, you stayed with your laptop all day when you weren't working on a case or report, you start to watch old 90s cartoons, you skipped breakfast each time and ate a whole jar of peanut butter,''

"Okay, but that could have been any day it's nothing significant for me,''

“Ew Timmy, we need to talk about that,”

"Fine'' Jason turns to Dick ''You go to work and arrest a pregnant woman who was yelling at a bank teller for threatening him and an old man for breaking into and trespassing on private property for trying to find somewhere to sleep. The lady you get coffee from asks you out on a date, that enough?''

"Well Little Wing, I don't know, none of that has happened yet who knows if it's right,''

"I do'' Groaned Jason, he looked to Cass his last shot, ''You were with Babs waiting for news if you got the part you wanted in a play,” Cass stared at him, not saying anything.

"Believe brother,'' She nodded firmly at him, at least she had his back.

"Yeah, of course we believe you Little Wing, but what do we do about it?" Dick was concerned if this day is repeating itself, who's to say anything they do will stop this. It's tricky dealing with things with too many variables and someone else behind its wheel.

"Well, usually in time loops there is a significant series of events that always happen no matter what the one person who's aware does, what's that in this situation?" Tim looked up from the ground when no one said anything. ''I mean at least that’s what the Justice League has on them in their files, not that I read those or anything,'' He wasn’t even pretending to try and lie to them about it.

''Tim..'' Dick sighed loudly, groaning out, ''We'll talk about that later too, but he's right there's gotta be something you're struggling to change maybe without realizing it and somehow whatever caused this, for some reason has you needing to be the one to change it, but I mean it could be anything I suppose,'' Dick trailed off thoughtfully.

"It's Alfred.'' Jason finally replied looking away, cringing from the rest of them, Cass immediately understood that Jason was devastated about it, knowing that it must mean today or more importantly for the last few days Jason has been losing Alfred and he needs their help to stop it from happening again.

"What about Alfred?" Dick asked, confused since Alfred never really has anything to do with any of their missions or cases aside from doing some work back at the Cave. He mostly worked on the batcomputer or was the lead medic whenever one of them was injured.

"Everytime the day ends Alfred…dies, and I start over remembering everything from before, I keep trying to follow him but eventually I lose him each time I…don’t know what to do anymore,"

The others were shocked unable to say anything, not only was Jason asking for help but he looked at his wits end, "Just tell us everything that happened, " Tim finally murmured.

"By six Alfies already gone to Gotham, he switches his cabs three times and starts to walk by himself around the streets, coming in and out of different shops for the next few hours. I managed to go with him once but he asked to have the rest of the day off. I keep losing him in the crowds when I try to follow him at a distance and other than that, he comes home and stays there. Until Damian found him the first two times and everytime I'm with since, he’s bleeding as soon as he walks through the door there's nothing anyone could do to save him, each time."

"He’s definitely a Bat that’s for sure," Dick sadly muttered.

"Yeah that’s true, any idea what we should do to stop this, Jay.'' Tim overthinking, trying to come up with at least a backup plan they could fall back on, ''We could spilt up and each follow him if that'd help but I don’t know maybe instead of following him, we should focus more on how it happened or where exactly Alfreds even going in the first place.''

"Important date?" Questioned Cass, it was a good point Alfred didn’t leave the Manor compounds usually unless there was someone else he was going to visit, the problem was he didn’t tell anyone where he was headed when that happened, even as rare as it was.

"Okay, we'll split up into two teams, then one team will be with him at all times and the others with a clear vantage point at a distance. Tim and I can go with Alfred, since the two of you are better trackers sounds good?" Dick took over, which pissed Jason off, he did it whenever the Bats wasn’t around assuming the leader's position just because he was older, not because he was the most capable, which seemed to be a theme with all the bats whenever they joined an outside team. Jason bottled that with everything else he was mad about, no point in blowing up right now about something so insignificant.

''No,'' Jason disagreed, deciding to change things up, ''Alfred would never believe that the two of you would just drop everything you planned today to just go see him, if we wanna get this done without having everyone know than its gotta be Cass and I, we’re the only ones who Alfred hangs out with outside the Manor when we are free,'' If the two were offended or ashamed they didn’t say, Dick and Tim were decent enough trackers and good enough to just be able to keep an eye on the three of them moving.

"Little brother right," Cass said, and that was that, she had the final say it was an unspoken batbros rule they all abided by.

* * *

Another six days passed making it just about two weeks for Jason, each day since he tried to get his brothers and sisters to help and each time Dick, Cass and Tim were able to show up. Once or twice Damian came to help coming home early from the Kents, but the results were always the same, no matter who they switched to hang out with Alfred and who they put to track him.

One thing Jason was right about was that everytime it was someone other than Jason or Cassandra, Alfred was more skeptical and more flighty, even if it was Jason with another, their excuses varied but none of them managed to convince the old butler that his spoiled charges would ever in any circumstances hang out with him for no reason. Even now, he was right but it still made Jason sad that the others took advantage of the old man without realizing it. And it might be too late to change that.

Alfred sent those groups away earlier than Jason or Cass going alone. And when the two of them went together that first time seemed to have been the longest Alfred spent with any of them. With no results on where he goes after still.

Jason now had to try again, he was in his safehouse Cassandra was the only one he called since she was the only one who could help it seemed and would normally spend her days with Alfred, trying to reexplain to her what has been going on for the past few days. He recaps.

"Tell him?" Cassandra had finally spoken up when it seemed it got too quiet, usually there would be one of the others trying to get Jason to prove himself, and only once when Cassandra hadn’t made it,had they dismissed everything he said. That had ended with Damian calling Jason as soon as he found Alfred, coming home early to double check just in case Jason wasn’t going insane.

Which led to now, the two of them trying to come up with a new plan entirely, "No way, am I telling that old bastard, Cass. I'd rather just stay in this god awful time loop,'' Jason said angrily, no way would Bruce even consult anyone before doing something ridiculous that would cost them all something they wouldn't have wanted to trade, not that he would have asked. Or he would try to sacrifice himself, which would just have them chase him down instead, it wasn't worth the hassle and Jason wasn’t gonna help if Bruce fucked everything up.

"Not him. Alfred, tell Alfred."

Tell alfred? How would that work, would they go up to him and say, 'You're gonna die today doing whatever it is you're hiding from everyone else!' would he even believe that. Jason wasn't ready for that answer, he just started getting close to the others even though they got on his nerves. And his closest relationship was with the other two middle kids, Tim and Cass. Which was more of a friendship than a siblingship, at least to Jason.

The other two were more complicated but he was trying, the only one he wasn’t dealing with is the one that Alfred cares about the most, Bruce was something he wasn’t compromising on, no matter who tried to sway him, Tim tried once but stopped halfway when he realized it was the line Jason wasn’t willing to cross and that Jason would stop talking to him completely if he continued. Cass had never said anything to him directly, but she used to try to get Jason to go to the Manor more but as discreet as she was, Jason knew what she was attempting, and bit that in its bud. Dick and Damian were both more obvious than subtle, while Damian tried some twisted version of reverse psychology on him, telling Jason that Bruce didn’t want to see him either, had just made Jason stay away more.

The others mostly stopped after that, Dick however still hasn’t stopped trying, constantly telling him how much he's loved and Jason avoids spending time alone together since then, the others understand enough to back off and always make sure one of them is also in the same room to steer the conversation away.Alfred has never spoken to Jason about this decision though, whenever he wants the other around they usually head out or Bruce isn't around.

Jason wasn’t sure that Alfred would let him handle it, he had been failing for a while and maybe for good reason Alfred would prefer the Bat to take over. But even though it made a lot of sense and he knew it might be the smarter choice, he wasn’t sure if he was ready for that kind of disappointment from Alfred, he'd been failing his best friend for two weeks already and was sure Alfred would reject him after they fixed the time loop because of that.

"Would he even believe me Cass?" He looked at her, she was sympathetic but nodded and grabbed his hand.

"Will be there, little brother'' Squeezing his hand, they both stood knowing exactly where Alfred would be right now or soon, he was getting ready to go out to Gotham, like he had everyday since the loop started for Jason. Jason wasn’t sure how many more times he could watch Alfred die again, he was ready for this to be over.

Cass and Jason head back to the Manor, while the others stayed oblivious this time around, going about their day however it should have gone originally, they both went to the kitchen waiting for Alfred to come down for the day. Cass and Jason holding eachothers hands in an attempt to stave off their nerves. Alfred paused, noticing them when he entered the room before continuing to his kettle to start some tea.

"Good morning, Masters Cassanndra and Jason,to what do I owe for the pleasure of your presence this fine morning?"

Jason looked away after smiling sheepishly; they all knew Alfred liked tea before dealing with them and preferred to be the first up to enjoy it.

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

"No alfie, it's just-this might sound insane al and-and you don’t have to believe me … I mean not that I- not that I -doubt you… I'd never doubt you Al, you know that it's- it’s just it’s a little far fetched, well not a little but de-definitely farfetched… no one would believe it honestly I-I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t, I mean I wouldn’t…though of course if you told me i'd- i’d believe you Alfie it's just kinda intense and i'm not really…"

Jason rambled, waving his arms around trying to not to somehow offend Alfred. He couldn’t remember what he had even said but Cass held his arm back down, calming him down enough to stay on topic and interrupted his long speech before it got worse. Jason had started to panic. He hadn't had a panic attack for a long time but telling Alfred he was going to die and there was nothing Jason could do freaked him out.

Alfred looked amused, "This wouldn't happen to be about my death, would it Master Jason?"

Jason paled, he felt like he was about to throw up, Cass rubbed his back, Alfred knew who knows how long he had, he died each day and knew he couldn't out run it. How are they supposed to get out of this? It was out of control.

But Alfred kept going back to wherever it was he went and that was the only thing that stayed the same.

"Where do you go?" Cass was the one who asked the hard question, she always seemed to be the only one who could handle it, these past few days. Without her he might've just blacked out instead. She had been helping him adjust to living with the Lazarus Pit Syndrome, lately. But curbing his rage rose his anxiety. They were working on that too since it started becoming more frequent.

Alfred looked away slumping his shoulders, Alfred was avoiding them and Jason hated that they needed to violate his privacy, when he already barely kept enough of his life to himself, but they had to know. "It is the anniversary of the day Master Jason came back to life," He said softly, Alfred bustled around the kitchen keeping himself busy while the other two digested this fact.

"When I was resurrected?" How did he even know when Jason came back, Jason didn’t even know, he still hadn’t recovered a lot of his memories from that time.

"I had a look at the graveyards security system," Illegally no doubt, "And today … or rather two weeks ago I had been searching for a few years now discreetly and have determined this to be the date, I suppose that this just proved me right," Jason was speechless, he had no idea what to say, Alfred had been searching for the day Jason came back to life. To what? Thank someone? Celebrate? Jason was grateful he had always wanted to know but the effort he must have gone through to look through all that footage for a glimpse of his fifteen year old self crawling out of his grave seemed horrifying, he would never wish Alfred to experience that for anything. Not even a piece of mind.

"Alfie.."Jason whispered, "Why do you keep going back?" Maybe that’s why this was happening; something kept making them restart and it was probably the same thing that made him come back the first time.

"It seems I have triggered this unfortunate event, and nothing I do can convince her to cease this."

"Who? You are dying everyday Alf, I never want to see you hurt, none of us do! Who is doing this to you and why?" Jason shot to his feet feeling pissed and relieved that there was someone he could hit for causing all of the stress had been feeling since the time loop had first started.

"It is the price I pay for keeping you away my dear boy, I do not mind carrying this burden to keep you safe until I change things," Alfred placed his hand on Jason's shoulder, a warm look on his face just like he used to do when they were younger, Alfred’s subtle, ' I love you'.

Jason shook his head leaning down to Alfreds shoulder, "No, not you, not like this, Alf," Cassandra reached over, her hand a top of Alfreds hand on Jason.

"Together.''

Jason laughed dryly, "Yeah Alfie, we got this one, more time alright."

"She is quite determined to keep you, Master Jason i'm afraid,"

"Who?"

"Lady Death, herself, ''

Jason and Cassandra were stunned, "What?" it didn’t make much sense to anyone, Alfred was fighting against a god for Jason's sake, it sounded more insane then the time loop itself.

"She has been waiting for you to return to her on this day for years it seems, no one has visited your grave on this day since you came back, she claims you are hers. And won’t accept another no matter what I have offered,'' The implication that Alfred tried to sacrifice himself for Jason's sake was not lost on either of the younger two.

Jason nodded slowly lifting his head up, he was determined to stop anyone who tried to hurt his family to get to him, "Alright let's go and see if we can stop this," Cass and Alfred followed and the three went to complete Alfred routine he had been doing for the last two weeks.

To Jason's grave.

* * *

Walking into the cemetery, Jason noticed the fog surrounding the area possibly warding away any unnecessary visitor from going inside. The three navigate to Jason's grave with Jason and Cass making sure Alfred was between them at all times. Jason let Cass lead the way to his grave, never having visited it since the terrifying night he left. Standing there was a cloaked figure whose hood covered past their forehead. The unbelievable part was that the figure was floating just a bit above Jason's headstone with a long scythe set leaning on it.

Jason was pissed off, who cared if she was Death why would she esentially torture Alfred to get him of all people, plenty of others have come back to life one way or another how was his any different. Stepping closer to his plot he faced the figure, "What the fuck is your problem?"

"Child, you may be the one with the gift but I will not tolerate you speaking to me this way nor will I allow it,'' Her voice called out seemingly surrounding them all at once, it was unnerving, "You must return to where you belong, this is not your plane of earth any longer, no matter what your grandfather may insist,''

Jason usually blushed whenever someone referred to Alfred as his grandfather but this time it made him more angry that Death knew how he felt about Alfred and still hurt him in the worst way Jason could imagine, experiencing death each and everyday not knowing when it would stop and if each time was the last time. "I don’t care about what you want, you don’t get to do that to my grandfather and then expect me to just do your bidding!" He yelled, all his built up frustration from everything finally let out.

"You have passed, it is time to move on."

"No thanks, I’m not done, yet. And it's not like I'm the one who did this to me, lay off,"

"If you don’t come now, when the time comes for you to return to dust, there will be nowhere for you to go, you will roam in a meaningless existence, in what the living considers hell and I will not help you out, my offer is now or never."

Jason took less than a second to come up with an answer, he didn’t want to die like this and even though tomorrow might be his last day with the life he lives he never expected to live long, he still had today to spend with those he cared about. He treasured his second life. But the second part had him worried, what exactly did that mean, it's not like he expected to go anywhere else with all that he'd done in his second life, even if they were for good reasons. "What do you mean gift? Earlier you said I was the one with the gift?"

"You are the inheritor of a will, to change the world for better or worse and no, you never fulfilled it the first time you died and thus you returned,"

"And now?"

"You will not be given a third chance no matter what you accomplished,"

"Then the second option is what I'm going with," Cass grabbed his hand, squeezing hard, reminding him the choice he made was not without its own consequence and that he needed to be sure despite it being something he couldn’t take back no matter how much he could end up regretting it, he still needed to think it through carefully.

"Master Jason." Alfred sounded forlorn and resigned, unable to see a way out of this without risking anything.

"It's fine, I made my decision, is that all or are there gonna be some flashing lights?"

"That is all, you are now more dead than others that roam this world, your grandfather should leave soon those older and closer to death have the tendency to react to the side effects from being too close to me, I shall take my leave then child," She floated close to Jason, so they were face-to-face. He could see her under her hood, she was a skeleton without eyes, sockets empty. She wasn’t ethereal or beautiful; she was everything he knew all people will one day be, what he should have been and what he will become again. She placed a kiss on his head before disappearing into thin air, taking the fog with her.

A coughing sound was heard, remembering what she said he turned to Alfred who was coughing blood in Cassandra's arms. Jason was scared he could admit that, he knew the time loop had to be over, so whatever happens to Alfred now would be permanent.

"Lets get him to a hospital," Jason went to grab Alfred, pulling him in his arms, he was small and lighter than he thought. Jason barely saw Cassandra nod before the two started running out of the cemetery and to the closest hospital they could find

''Come on Alfie, please.'' Jason sobbed, events finally catching up with him, reality finally back in order and Alfred back at death's doorstep.

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is got out of hand, so im not a big fan of it

* * *

Jason and Cass had gotten Alfred to the hospital where they had whisked the old man away, like the first day of the time loop no one noticed the three of them missing until late evening, half the day gone by. Jason hadn’t picked up his phone feeling guilty for everything and Cass was busy dealing with the doctors, and making sure Jason was okay. Neither had remembered to call any of the others.

Until Dick called, it was deja vu for a moment. Jason was scared dick was gonna tell him Alfred was gone like he had every time before.

He answered the call, showing Cass the caller ID and putting his phone on speaker phone so she could listen.

“Little Wing! Is Al there with you? He wasn’t home when Damian came back and no one else could reach him, we’re at the manor, you should come over too I gotta call cass after you okay,”

“Dick,” Jason knew he sounded like a mess but there was no time for composure. 

“Jay? Jay, are you okay what's the matter? Where are you ?” his voice frantic and just higher than normal, like it got when dick got scared.

“Cass is here with me,” he let out holding the phone closer to her, this was kind of the opposite from recently he was the one to give the others terrible news. Or well, Jason was hoping Cass would see as she wasn't not the one breaking down next to Alfreds hospital bed. 

Alfred was in a medical induced coma, which was the last resort but they had to go through, no one was sure when hed wake up, and Jason would love to just forget about the stupid time loop and focus on the old man. Cass and Jason were sitting next to each other facing the door, lots of money from Jason and cass’s influence managed to get them a private room for however long he was there. 

“Alfred hurt.”

“He’s with the two of you? Thank god. Is he with Leslie?” Leslie had stopped by, she was the only person who could sign off on the doctors inducing the coma, Jason had called her not long after they arrived at the hospital knowing she was the only one with the medical power of attorney for Alfred and he wanted someone who Alfred would have wanted to make these decisions for him. Jason knew about Leslie, Alfred had told him a long time ago and made sure to get her here as fast as they could. She had left hours ago going back to work with a heavy heart, she wasn’t an expertise when it came to whatever was happening to Alfred and decided to take her mind off of it by helping people she did know how to fix. She allowed the doctors to proceed with the coma knowing the risks but thinking it was for the best.

“No. hospital.” Cass was also having a hard time, no matter how she tried to bottle it in, Alfred was their friend and all they could do was sit down and hold his hands for as long as he needed. It was frustrating being on this side, it was something all the batkids hated, waiting for one of them to recover from an injury.

“Hospital?” Dick screeched loudly, both of them backing away from the phone a bit, “is he okay? What happened? Text me the address we are coming now!” Jason looked to his sister shaking his head a little, eyes downcast and face ridden with a guilty expression. He didn't want the others to know about the time loop; it would definitely start an argument they didn't need right now.

Cass understood that at least even if she may have disagreed, now wasn't the time to point blame they needed to come together as a family for alfred. Nodding she proceeded to text their older brother with jasons phone the hospital's name.

It took just a few minutes close to an hour before Dick, Damian and Tim showed up through the door, the three looked around frantically before noticing the state Alfred was in. “oh my god alfred!” Dick rushed over cupping the old butler's face, “Al? What happened?” Dick sobbed, his head tilting in Cass and Jason's direction but he never took his eyes off Alfred.

Already coming up with a solid story similar to how it would have gone with Damian the first two times, jason forced out, “came to visit him, he was on the floor already, brought him over with Cass when she stopped by too, been here since,” his sentences short and clipped, he looked to the smallest two, Tim also already crying he had trouble when someone he cared about was injured or dead and Damian looked completely pale, no doubt was in the mindset that alfred would probably outlive them all and yet here he was looking fragile and older than they all remembered.

“Has anyone called Bruce?” Tim stuttered out, he moved closer to Alfreds bed, hand on Dicks back, both to give support to Dick and for himself.

“No, '' Jason answered looking at Dick “was hoping you would,'' he didn't want to talk to anyone and everything in him was telling him to run but Alfred was alive and that's what mattered the most.

Dick looked ready to argue, but stared back at alfred from where he was sitting on the other side of the hospital bed “alright, tell me what the doctor said first, he’ll have a lot of questions’’ 

Jason mentioned the injuries the doctor mentioned and the healing expectation for someone as old as Alfred, he would have kept going but a nurse walked in and both Tim and Dick harassed the poor lady for answers Jason had just given them.

Huffing, he leaned down his head resting on Alfreds bed, “what do we do now?” he muttered to the hospital bed sheet. He could hear the nurse leaving out of fright and Dick stepping out to call Bruce, Tim and Damian both sat on the opposite side of Jason and Cass waiting for the dramatic entrance of the man who dressed like a bat at night.

It was getting dark and soon the others would have to leave, Jason and Cass managed to convince the staff to stay at least the first night as long as they were on their best behaviour but Damian had school and if Jason remembered correctly Tim hadn’t slept for a while and Dick already had his terrible shift at work. 

“Cass voiced his thoughts out loud “go sleep. Will be here tomorrow.” the younger two looked up at her ready to start arguing and screaming to get their way. “Go sleep.” she repeated, the others knowing how upset she was if she could’t waste her time explaining herself.

Dick came back in the room, “Bruce said that visiting hours are up and he’ll have to come by in the morning and he’ll meet us at the manor to discuss this.’’ Dick went to place a kiss on Alfred, “we’ll be back soon” before moving to their younger brothers pulling them to their feet.

“But -”

“We gotta go.”

“Alfred is-”

“Bruce needs us to still patrol”

“Grayson you can't be-”

“I know I know but someone needs to take care of Gotham there is nothing we can do here for Alfred, let's go, I said!”

Tim and Damian reluctantly followed behind him, glancing back every few seconds to make sure Alfred was still there. Dick pointed to the door sending the two out of the room to head back home, “lets go” Dick gestured to the other two who watched the whole exchange they were still sitting at alfreds bed side by side, “visiting hours are over they wont let us stay any longer I already asked.”

“Permission given” Cass said going back to stare at Alfred's face hoping to see some changes in the last little while since the boys came. She kept an eye on his chest the whole time making sure he was breathing enough.

“From who?” Dick said angrily, it was the norm in stressful situations for him, and this was definitely stressful.

“The hospital, who do you think, just ask the nurse Dickie, '' Jason mumbled he hadn’t moved his body from Alfred's bed, the old man's hand held in his so he could keep track of his pulse. 

“What? You werent gonna tell anyone? Maybe one of us should have stayed instead did you not think about that!” Dick yelled out, “what about Bruce did he not deserve to sit there instead or me we’ve known him all our lives!”

“No.” Cass said glaringly, Jason understood her sentiment, the two of them were closer to Alfred no matter how many years Dick and Bruce knew him longer, and they would be here for their friend no matter how long it took tonight.

“Just take tomorrow night Dickface” Jason waved his arm in the door's direction signally it was time for him to leave. He stomped away, going to make sure to come back the next day and stay overnight with Alfred.

“Thanks for having my back Cass''Jason said to her, she didn't have to go as far as protect him from dicks hurtful words but he was eternally grateful he had someone on his side .

“Yes I am quite proud to see the two of you grow together,” a voice said, Alfred's voice said.

Jason jumped up in his seat startling Cass, before him was Alfred but not quite Alfred. Jason could still see his Alfred’s body on the hospital bed but near the door was another one. A slight opaque one, but another living and breathing alred.

Or maybe not.

The Alfred by the doors chest hasn't moved at all to show a sign of life and Jason was sure if he tried to touch the old man his hand would slip right through him. He looked back and forth from both alfreds and rubbed at his eyes. Maybe the time loop had side effects like seeing things, or he was hallucinating from a lack of proper sleep, there had to be a better explanation than that there were two alfreds in the same room.

“Hey Cass? Do you see anyone by the door?” jason pointed at the other alfred. 

“Now Master Jason, I've taught you better than to point at others” Cass shook her head standing up. She darted her eyes everywhere and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Jason ignored the comment grabbing his sisters hand to give her a better area to pinpoint. 

“Not even there?” 

He felt Cass stop moving, she was still and stiff, “Alfred” she nodded at Jason smiling softly, at their friend.

Jason was relieved he wasn't the only one going crazy, “it is a pleasure to see you both again, children”

“Whats going on now?”Jason groaned out, in exasperation as if things could get more complicated than they already were. 

Cass let go of Jason's hand ”no Alfred” she said frowning she grabbed Jason's hand again “ Alfred” nodding towards him once more. Jason understood that she meant she could only see him when she was touching him. “Magic?’’ Jason slowly moved his hand down his face in annoyance.

“I thought this was over,” 

“Seems not Master Jason, though I must admit having a corporal form does wonders for my back”

Jason smiled despite himself, “glad you're feeling alright Alf, looks like Cass will be occupying my hand for the foreseeable future though’’ she agreed, dragging the two of them closer to the other Alfred, swiping her hand at him. Both jumped in shock when they saw her hand go right through what should have been alfreds arm.

Alfred’s eyes twinkled “that tickled, I must say Master Cassandra do try to refrain yourselves from doing that again please”

Jason laughed at that, “not a fan of being tickled, I take it?” growing up with the old man they all knew Alfred wasn’t a fan of physical contact much, this preference he passed to Bruce unfortunately and so rarely, mostly holidays did the others get to express their appreciation through acts of physical affection. If they were lucky, like Jason and Cass they could get away with kissing the man on his cheek whenever they left.

Since Cass went to Hong Kong quite a bit and Jason went all over for weeks at a time the two of them made sure to give Alfred as much love as he was comfortable at the time. 

“You know very well how much I like the juvenile act, Master Jason”

“Not fun.'' Cass agreed she liked laughing as much as the next person, but having someone else be able to pull the sound out of her without her permission wasn't funny to her. She prided herself on her body's control and the act itself was proof that she didn't have full control of her body. So she hated it.

“So what are we gonna do now about this thing, is it going away when you wake up Alfie?”

“It's our best bet i’d say, it's getting late time for bed you two”

“And what are you supposed to do all night, we can pull an all nighter Alfie, wouldn't be the first time '' Jason argued, he didn't want Alfred to disappear in the morning they still weren't sure if the loop stopped since the next day hadn't happened. Jason didn't know what he'd do if he had to do this one more time.

“We stay up too. No argue Alfred” Cass more or less told Alfred that this was what they would do and there was nothing Alfred could do to change their stance on this matter. “Together.”

That had easily won over Alfred, who knew what he was thinking about, he was essentially a ghost and they had no idea if they were supposed to wake him up somehow or just wait for his body to do iit on its own. But Cass was right either way they did it together.

====

The next morning Jason dreaded waking up half believing he would end up back at his safe house instead of with Cass and Alfred, but his back hurt instead of being comfortably warm in his own bed and when he opened his eyes his face was covered with Cass’s hair. Stretching his back he looked up staring right at the ghost like Alfred and the one in comatose. 

“Morning” Jason whispered trying to avoid waking Cass up, it didn't work. She sat straight in her chair not too long afterwards holding her hand out to Jason. He gripped hers tightly, without meaning to hurt her. Both of them relieved the next day came, and Alfred isn't some sort of shared dream of theirs. “you're looking better,” he gestured to the Alfred on the bed. The other hummed in agreement, accessing every detail of his body.

“Visiting hours are soon, the others might be here. It would be best to avoid talking to air in their presence Masters Cassandra and Jason” he said dryly, knowing that the others would do something drastic like send them away.

“Got it '' Jason nodded seriously he wouldn't put it past the others to use any excuse to send him away especially if it would appease Bruce somehow.

“Understood.” whispered Cass, her head already tilted listening closely to catch the others footsteps. She held onto Jason's hand tighter signally someone was here, and by her defensive pose their footsteps were angry.

So Bruce or Dick.

It was Bruce who came bulldozing through the door before stopping staring at the bed, he was frozen he must have never before in all his life seen Alfred anything other than the composed old butler he used to be.

“Don't worry him children, he’ll start to obsess once he gets a whiff of something amiss”

Jason looked at the talking Alfred and then moved closer to Cass, she subtly nodded, intertwining her hands with Jasons to provide him some safety, knowing Jason couldn't handle being too close to Bruce. And at a time like this Bruce wouldn't be bothered to remember how uncomfortable he makes Jason when Alfred was on the hospital bed. 

“What happened?'' Bruce sounded furious he was probably seconds away from exploding his gaze was instantly on Jason who avoided eye contact with the man. “What did you do? What happened to Alfred?” he yelled out Jason wasn't sure what to do anything he said Bruce would think was a lie, he couldn't get any closer to Cass without knocking her over and just when he was about to try and explain the same thing they said to the others the door opened again. He stood tall ready to argue against both Bruce and whoever came in again knowing it was about to get ugly.

It was Dick, he came in during the commotion and grab Bruce by a shoulder, “ stop they went to see him and saw he was already on the floor, they had to take him to the hospital okay, he's an old man Bruce not everything is because someones out to get you,”

“An old man, Master Richard, why I have never been more insulted” Alfred said sarcastically, Cass and Jason tried to keep their composure though they were shaking a bit hoping it would translate to distress or sadness instead. 

“What was he doing there Dick, i told you he wasn't welcome in my house until he obeyed me!” bruce pulled away from Dick, stepping closer to jason “you're not welcome here either, get out’’ 

“Oh dear …” Alfred covered his mouth with a hand ashamed that the boy he had raised would say that to someone Alfred thought of as a grandson and knew Bruce had once thought was his son. “Master Bruce”

“Bruce! What are you saying ? Jason is a part of our family and Alfred would want him to be here!” Dick moved in between Bruce and Alfreds bed, blocking Bruce from seeing both Cass and Jason. His arms stretched across the room, the next few moments were reminiscent to the times when Dick and Bruce fought back when he first came to live in the manor.

Bruce glared at Jason, fierce and misdirected, he was always on to resort to anger when he was upset or in a generally depressing mood. And this time the one person who could talk him out of it wasnt gonna be able to. And Jason wasn't planning on getting in the middle of that he tried once at first and it wasn't pretty. The both of them had turned on him instead and picked him apart piece by piece. 

“Its alright we agreed you'd take today right? I'll go let me know if anything changes won't you Dickie?” Jason whispered to his older brother, stepping past the both of them. Letting go of his sister's hand, which didn't go unnoticed by Bruce.

“Cassandra, come here, i told you all to stay away from him, i never expected you to be the one to disobey me when it came to people like him,” he said in disgust “we have more important things to deal with here”

Jason would have felt hurt if Bruce had not already said some even worse things to him before. When he was at his lowest point, he's better now and he knows there is no way to fix what they could have been what they used to be. It was time Bruce moved on too.

“No, little brother needs help. Will help him.” She moved to follow Jason out the room away from the now screaming Dick Grayson, whose booming voice could be heard down the hall.

“DONT FUCKING SAY THAT TO MY LITTLE BROTHER”

Jason had almost blushed if he hadn't realized Alfred was following them too, he grabbed at Cassandra missing and hitting her shoulder. “Cass as much as i love you sticking up for a guy twice your size, i need you to see this”

“I thought we were over this Master Jason there is nothing to be afraid of, i am still the same man who changed your sheets while you were younger”

Embarrassed Jason looked away hoping not to cause a scene; the two or three he supposedly moved to head out of the hospital Alfred able to walk outside the doors as well. None of them knew the parameters of this and dealing with it was about to get more complicated with most of their resources coming from the batcomputer. 

“Cass” Jason grabs her arm gently, “Alfies still here” he whispered, she turned to face the old man clearly surprised at the turn of events, “and i don’t think it's because he has to follow anyone” she also noticed that Alfred had move farther ahead of them and seemingly making his own direction without any sort of pull to his physical body or to either of the only people who could see him.

“I suppose this means i can't ask for a cup of tea”

=======

Cass and Jason spent the week with Alfred holding hands whenever they could, alfred came home with Jason whenever they parted ways, and on patrol Alfred seemed to enjoy the life without worrying about his old bones breaking, jason made sure the two were alone whenever they went out so he could communicate without anyone noticing him and thinking he was sole psycho.

For as long as Alfred was in the hospital though the others were forbidden to see him Bruce having started to keep a closer eye on the younger ones and despite Dick and Cass going out of their way to disobey Jason had to admit he was starting to miss the younger two gremlins he hadn't seen Tim or Damian since the first day at the hospital.

And when two more weeks passed Jason saw Alfred flicker away. He texted Cass hoping she could check on the old man and make sure he didn't die without saying anything.

‘He’s back’

Was the reply, assuming that meant Alfred woke up, Jason was afraid that Alfred didn't even remember for the next few months he stayed away not wanting to find out and maybe just a little petty about how Bruce was treating him like trash again. When he came back to visit the others after new years he saw the den filled with everyone including Bruce and Dick on the opposite sides of the room, the boys next to Dick and Cass smiling at him in the middle when Alfred came up from behind him.

“You look like you've seen a ghost master Jason.”

Jason and Cassandra were the only ones laughing, Alfred smirking triumphantly, probably been holding on to that joke for a while.

“Hey, Alf,”

**Author's Note:**

> I dont know how death became a character for this it was meant to be light hearted but i coulldnt figure out a reason for the loop so theres that, a part two is in the works sorry for the cliffhanger, but the tags sorta spil everything anyway


End file.
